


Na'Amidala

by skatzaa



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Handmaidens, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23762188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skatzaa/pseuds/skatzaa
Summary: (Na'Amidala:of the house Amidalaorin the service of the house Amidala)Sabé and Rabé are reunited in the wake of Leia's call for aid.
Relationships: Rabé & Sabé (Star Wars)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30
Collections: May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Fanworks Exchange 2020





	Na'Amidala

**Author's Note:**

  * For [riselioness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riselioness/gifts).



A knock at the door.

Sabé strongly considered ignoring it; it was past sundown, after all, and the last thing she wanted to deal with today was unexpected and uninvited visitors. But precious few people had ever known of this house to begin with, and these days, most of them were dead.

Another knock: this time in a rhythm as familiar to Sabé as her own heartbeat, even after all these years.

There was only one person alive, besides herself, who still knew that code.

She rose from her seat by the fire, faster than her old knees allowed most days, and swept towards the door.

Standing on the other side was a short, compact figure, their face hidden beneath the hood of their plain robe. But a robe could do nothing to disguise the set of those shoulders, the angle of the head.

“Rabé,” Sabé said, and Rabé tipped her chin up to look at Sabé with her dark, knowing eyes. “It’s good to see you, sister.”

Rabé’s lips quirked up in a faint smile. She said, “You too. Now, are you going to let me in, or will you make an old woman stand out in the cold all night?”

Sabé rolled her eyes, but reached out and drew her old friend close.

Rabé’s hair—unlike Sabé’s, which had gone gray by the time she was forty-five—was still streaked through with brown, though it was mostly silver, at this point.

She settled into the armchair opposite Sabé’s without needing prompting, and folded her hands primly in her lap.

_ Same old Rabé, _ Sabé thought, as she sat across from her.

“It’s been a long time,” she said at last, when it became clear that Rabé was perfectly content to sit there and stare at her all night. “I wasn’t even sure you were still alive.”

Rabé was the last one, too—Eirtaé had died, oh, five years ago now? Her death had been publicized, at least—publicized, and widely mourned. Naboo did not soon forget its heroes.

Except, of course, when it did. Eirtaé’s death had been planetwide news, but the others—Saché and Yané, Dormé and Ellé and Moteé and all the others—had died much more quietly, and, most likely, much more painfully. It had taken years for Sabé to track down the records, but the only one she’d never found mention of was Rabé. The Empire had risen, and Rabé Na’Amidala had vanished from the galaxy.

To be fair, so had Sabé Na’Amidala. But that hadn’t been by choice.

Rabé was watching her closely, and at last she said, “Many of us who had been in Queen Apailana’s service went  _ very _ far underground at the end of the war.” She caught Sabé’s look. “She had public advisors and guards, of course, but if we were non-entities, it made our jobs significantly easier. After the Civil War it just… seemed easier for things to stay as they were.”

There was a lot Rabé wasn’t saying, but Sabé didn’t push. She could recognize a decoy maneuver when she saw one.

“You knew I was here.” It wasn’t a question. At least she kept herself from adding, plaintively,  _ why didn’t you come sooner? _

Rabé heard it anyway, and her gaze slid towards sympathy, though it didn’t quite make it all the way there. She said, “If we’d been able to decrypt the prison missives sooner, I would’ve come for you back then.” What she didn’t say: prison missives weren’t a high priority. “But… after the war, I thought it best to leave you to your peace. But yes, I did know you were here.”

More left unspoken—the scars on Sabé’s skin, the embarrassingly close proximity of her home to the Varykino retreat. She always had been stupidly loyal. The others used to tease her for it, even though they were just as devoted to the queen as she was.

Padmé’s ghost lingered between them—not Amidala, grand and aloof and untouchable, but Padmé, who had been soft and gentle with a core of beskar.

Rabé leaned forward, reaching out to take Sabé’s hand between both of hers. “I would’ve left you in peace, sister. But Leia Organa needs help.”

Leia Organa. Sabé hadn’t seen her since she was a child, headstrong and trailing sloppy braids in her wake. And now she was a general twice over, as Sabé understood it.

And she needed help.

“Rebellion is a young person’s game,” Sabé grumbled, feeling every minute of her eighty-odd years.

“Exactly,” Rabé said, releasing Sabé’s hand and leaning back in her chair again. She had that smile on her face, the one that she always got when she’d cornered someone just where she wanted them. Stang. “That’s why we need to show them how it’s done.”

Sabé felt herself grinning, no matter how bad of an idea it would turn out to be.

“Alright.” Maybe it was time to stop her sulking and hiding. “Let’s show them.”

And anyway. Leia Organa needed help.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always struggled with the idea of a last name for the handmaidens, because I feel like they need one, but they probably wouldn't keep their family names once they become handmaidens. And then it hit me with this fic: if they model their first names after the queen, why not their last names? I imagine that the Na' prefix means something lie "of," so Na'Amidala is "of Amidala"/"of the house Amidala," or, less literally, "in the service of the house Amidala." And in a way, they're continuing their service to the house Amidala by answering Leia's call. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I do so love the handmaidens.


End file.
